SCLC #646 · Hooker Hill 1949: sheriff convicted for turning away, Klansmen acquitted
In the 1949 Hooker Hill Klan abduction, Sheriff John William Lynch turned away when a captive asked for protection; the federal jury convicted him and a deputy under §242, while acquitting the private Klansmen. The Commission reports that the Fifth Circuit affirmed an under-color-of-law finding despite the officers’ absence from the actual beatings — an omission-versus-private-violence distinction. Cited judicial opinions were not independently inspected in the archive note.
Archive: 1949-hooker-hill-sheriff-lynch-klan-nonfeasance-section-242-conviction.
Nonfeasance under color of law ≠ private-violence verdict · standing three hundred fifty-two.